DALLAS, Texas – The 2018 Southland Bowling League Championship will take place at USA Bowl Dallas, the league announced Wednesday. The 58-lane venue in Northwest Dallas is set to host all eight Southland teams for the fourth league tournament from March 23-25.

Vanderbilt is the defending league champion after winning its second tournament title in three years at the 2017 championship in Jonesboro, Ark. For the first time in NCAA history, automatic bids will be granted to the tournament winners from six qualified conferences, including the Southland Bowling League, in 2018.

USA Bowl opened in September 1977 and is one of the premier bowling destinations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Past events hosted by the venue include the PBA and PWBA Dallas Opens, USBC Gold Junior National Tournament, USBC Intercollegiate Singles and Team Sectionals and numerous Texas state championships.

“Our venue is excited to host the event and we cannot wait to see which team prevails,” said Joshua Modelo, owner of USA Bowl. “We would like to thank our partners at the Southland Bowling League for allowing us to host such a prestigious event.”

The SBL championship is an eight-team, double-elimination tournament, using a best-of-three match format. Matchups will consist of one standard five-person team match, one baker total pinfall match and, if necessary, a third best-of-seven baker match.

The NCAA Women’s Bowling Committee will select a field of 10 teams (six automatic qualifiers and four at-large). Teams will be ranked, based on available selection criteria, with the top six being placed in the championship bracket. The remaining four teams will play in opening round matches to determine the final two teams that will compete in the championship. Selections will be announced Wednesday, March 28 via web stream on NCAA.com.

The 2018 NCAA Championship will be held April 12-14 at Tropicana Lanes in St. Louis, Mo., hosted by the University of Central Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission.